I'm just fascinated that you think that a few of them going home at night makes their case any more or less valid.

Their point is to protest about the greed, and continued greed, of bankers and the lack of government action in relation to it. They are angry. So should you be. So should we all be.

And Big Companies (inc Banks) "negotiating" their taxes

I've got no problem with the protest, far from it. But staging a protest in the form of an occupation of an area of land and then popping off home to Camden for a good night's sleep or going into work on a Monday morning sort of ruins it... don't you think?

They have no answers just platitudes.

I don't think this occupy will take off like it has in America. The reason being we have a much 'better' welfare system in this country compared with america. There the poor are much much greater numbers and struggle much more than here. You could argue that some of the poor here are quite content living with in their means, so will not join these student protestors. In america, people from all backgrounds, army schools and poor have joined together. Won't happen here.

Does any of their protest make their case any more or less valid?

No, just shows the strength of feeling, which therefore must logically be less if not kipping over.

Pitching a tent on someone else's land is not a campaign, it's an occupation. It's especially unjustified if that land belongs to, or is typically used by, a church, which has nothing to do with bankers' avarice, or consumers' greed, or Gordon Brown's tax-and-spend-and-buy-votes regime, all of which have landed us in this mess. So first of all, it's a misjudged and misdirected protest. On top of that, if those tents are not occupied then it's dishonest and deceiving. You could argue that it's also pretentious. All this undermines their cause. They're not heroes, they're just well-meaning but self-indulgent time-wasters.

First St Pauls

Now the garden of the Tate Modern Gallery

You know what will happen next....

IF they are not gone by rembrance Sunday, a day when we respect those who gave own life to ensure we are free to demonstrate as they are doing. I will gladly fire rubber bullets and water cannons at them.

might take a tent up on the 11th. staying in london for a couple of days, nice central spot, free, suprised that has not caught on yet. i'll tell you what, when rent a riot do it again in the spring / summer i might just join them

Point well made so it's time to move on. Shame the Church guy had to quit - I feel the protesters scored an own goal there.

Whatever people may think, with the current economic turmoil, events like this are likely to become ever more popular. People are losing their jobs whilst Directors receive 50% pay rises . People need to bear this in mind, even if they think some of the protesters are just a bunch of Levellers fans.

[quote="bluenosey"

even if they think some of the protesters are just a bunch of Levellers fans.[/quote]

Oh what happened to my green and pleasant land

They built a horrible big city on it. Let all the crusties, bankers, church-lefties and assorted protesters move there, leaving the countryside all green and pleasant for the rest of us.

The thing with all these protests is that they don't seem to offer a credible alternative to what we have now, with detailed proposals about how we should otherwise go about things. Or at least, they don't publicise that very well.

I don't like going to the dentists, but I can't think of a credible alternative.

I don't think it's necessarily wrong to protest without a clear agenda. As Groomy said, there's plenty to get angry about at the moment - we've seen the greatest financial crisis in recent times caused largely by corporate greed and politicians' negligence, the bankers are still picking up their fat bonuses, there's been little or no regulation to change their behaviour and the politicians' only response is to cut back and shut down, which hardly seems to be the answer to stimulating growth. Add to that growing inequality in society and general apathy with the political system and there are some pretty big faultlines.

Given all that, getting on the streets and telling the people in charge that the system is effed up and needs to change seems in many ways the only sane response. It's unrealistic to expect a ragbag of dissenting voices to come up with a coherent alternative, though, surely. And people talking about water cannons need to think about what kind of country they want to live in...

Not to mention that we don't have any water cannons, outside of Northern Ireland, anyway.

Ah, thats daily mail land - judio lives there, murk does but doesn't realise and blue nosey found it all a bit liberal

Cheeky

I may go and camp there at the weekend

Where? Daily Mail land?

copy cat lol

I wonder what will happen if the Students March near St Paul's on Wednesday ????

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ondon.html

So that is what Johnny is doing after X Factor. Who would have thunk it?

I don't know why they suddenly getting worried about this march. Its not exactly big, it probably wont' make the evening news and I doubt there will be an iota of trouble cos its just a few hundred peaceful marchers, so why need for rubber bullets, not that i reckon they would hurt at all, just be like hitting with a bouncy ball, probably fun to dodge the bullets.
Just daily mail senstationalism again.

Its not exactly big??

That is what they thought before

1 Millbank Last year

2 The trashing of London landmarks last year

Most people will be at work or university or in school.

Not many turned up. only 1000. Scared off by the bullets i guess. All peaceful so far from what i have seen on tv.